Little Angel's Charm
by CarlieD
Summary: Sequel to Dark Secrets. As the Cullens return to the US to begin their first ‘real’ life with Celia, they realize just how much their family life is going to change. Life with an eternal 3-year-old takes some getting used to.
1. StatesBound

A/N: So, in following with the staff of the Twilight Lexicon, this fic is officially closed until further notice. There are just too many obsessed people in the fanfiction world. _**This is an intervention.**_

**April Fool's Day!** Okay, here's the story.

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* * *

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Little Angel's Charm

_Sequel to Dark Secrets. As the Cullens return to the US to begin their first 'real' life with Celia, they realize just how much their family life is going to change. Life with an eternal 3-year-old takes some getting used to._

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Twilight.

**States-Bound**

Alice stifled the scream of frustration as Celia started throwing a fit again outside the locked door. Maybe if _she_ threw a fit, she'd finally get further than pulling off Jasper's shirt. She _felt_ like throwing the worst tantrum this family had ever seen. Two years, five months, three weeks, six days, twelve hours and thirty-six minutes. That was how long it had been.

Jasper groaned softly, resting his forehead against her neck for a moment. "Eventually…" he said helplessly. "Eventually…"

"We are going to have to leave the property," Alice muttered. "It's never going to work as long as she's in the vicinity." Sighing, she groped to find his discarded shirt. "Put your shirt back on. I'll go unlock the door for her before Edward picks the lock again."

"_Jas-per_!" Celia shrieked unhappily.

Alice made a face at the closed door briefly before she opened it, scooping the little girl into her arms. "Celia Whitlock Hale, you are going to drive me crazy," she said affectionately. "What do you want that you couldn't possibly get from –"

"Celia!" Rosalie exclaimed, appearing in the hallway.

"Never mind," Celia said happily, looking over Alice's shoulder as if searching out Jasper. "I found them."

Emmett skidded to a stop behind Rosalie. "Sorry, man," he said apologetically, looking at Jasper. "We tried to keep the little monster distracted." He grinned at Alice, who was glaring at him again. "She won't distract so easily. She's gotten wise to our ploys."

"I'm hungry," Celia announced, reaching for Jasper.

"You're _hungry_?" Alice asked in mock exasperation.

Celia nodded seriously, eyes wide.

"That's all right," Carlisle said as the rest of the family entered the living room. "We're just about ready to leave, anyway. Everybody can hunt when we get to the mainland."

Jasper winced with a barely-audible groan. In response, Alice laughed and passed him Celia at her loud insistence.

* * *

"Jasper, don't fuss so much," Alice laughed, holding him back as Jasper moaned slightly. "She's fine."

"It goes against every single instinct I have…" Jasper groaned in distress, cringing when the monster-sized jaguar snarled and wheeled around to face the miniscule little girl giggling in its direction.

"Try and catch me, kitty," Celia laughed, darting out of the way easily as the jaguar lunged for her. "You missed again," she taunted. The jungle cat let out a fearsome, unearthly shriek and charged for a fourth time. Giggling, Celia ducked again and rolled out of its path, scrambling to her feet to pounce on the cat.

The jaguar yowled in frustration and shook violently, sending Celia flying through the air and slamming into a tree. Momentarily stunned, Celia sat at the base of the tree, eyes wide with shock.

That was the last straw for Jasper. Taking off with a defensive growl, he took down the jaguar within seconds.

Celia wriggled her way under his arms to the jagged wound on the cat's neck. "You wreck all the fun," she grumbled to Jasper, putting her mouth to the dripping gash to drink.

"He does, doesn't he?" Alice agreed with an affectionate laugh and kiss to Jasper's cheek. "I told you not to worry," she murmured.

"Fine, you take down the next monster cat when I'm _not_ around," Jasper muttered darkly. "Celia, share." Celia simply swatted at his arm crankily and kept drinking. "_Celia_ –"

Alice kissed his cheek again. "I'm going to go hunt down something else. Be back in an hour."

"Come back sooner," Jasper called as she took off into the forest. Sighing, he turned back to the downed jaguar. Gently, he tugged Celia away from the wound. "Lee-lia, my turn."

"No!" Celia growled. "It's _mine_!"

"You're going to need to learn to share," Jasper said sternly, holding her back without much effort as he took a deep draught of the cat's blood. "This isn't going to be like Houston, where I could make something in the kitchen. Things can get very dangerous, very fast when we're hunting. You need to share your animals with whoever is hunting with you."

"It's _mine_!" Celia shrieked. "Let me _finish_!"

"Celia Eleanor Whitlock Hale!" Jasper finally snapped, turning her around to face him. "Why are you being so naughty all the time? What happened to the angel who used to listen to me?"

The little girl stamped her feet, frustration oozing out of her pores.

"Celia, tell me what's wrong," Jasper repeated, a little more softly. "I can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong."

"I'm _hungry_!" Celia spat out at last, revving up to a new tearless tantrum. "I'm _hungry_ and I'm _sleepy_ and I _want Baby_! I want to go back to Houston – it's _too different_ here!"

Jasper frowned, wrapping his arms around her trembling body distractedly as she crumpled to the ground, burying her face against his front. 'Hungry', he understood. She always referred to her thirst as being 'hungry'. Wanting her doll, he understood. Wanting to go back to what was familiar, he understood. But 'sleepy'?

Sighing, he released her. "Finish up your dinner, Celia," he said quietly.

* * *

"Are you sure you've had enough, Jasper?" Alice asked softly as they entered the airport. "Your eyes aren't as –"

"I'll be fine, Lissy," Jasper murmured in reply, shifting Celia's weight to his other arm so that he could lean in and kiss Alice.

"All right…" Alice said doubtfully. "I still think you should've had one more…"

"I'll be _fine_, Alice," he repeated. "Celia, stop that," he continued, disentangling his little sister's fingers from his hair as she tugged his head away from Alice. "Behave for me, please."

"Jasper, I'm _sleepy_," Celia complained mildly.

"Close your eyes, then," Jasper finally replied with a sigh.

"It's too loud."

"Then stop whining."

"I want Baby."

"Celia Eleanor, what did I just say?"

The slightest twitch of a smile tugged at the edges of Alice's lips as she tucked herself against Jasper's free side, keeping an eye out for any of the others coming through the doors of the airport. "Edward, Bella, Jacob and Nessie should be arriving in a few minutes," she murmured. "Jazz, catch her."

"What?" Jasper said in momentary confusion, before Celia started to try and free herself from his arms to go after a man who had passed too close to them. "Celia, for God's sake! What have I told you?" he snapped, tightening his grip on the little girl.

"I want to go down, Jasper. I'm tired of being carried," Celia complained, settling back with a sigh of resignation. "Why can't I walk?"

"There's too many people here, Lee-lia. You know that," Jasper replied. "You watch for Edward and Bella, okay?"

"No, I want to go to sleep."

Alice frowned. "Jasper, what does she mean, 'sleep'?" she asked softly. "She doesn't actually…"

Jasper shook his head, rubbing Celia's back. "I don't know."

Celia let a huff of frustration escape, laying her head down against Jasper's shoulder as she closed her eyes. "He's coming in the door," she muttered darkly.

"Who?" Alice asked.

"The one who smells bad."

Jasper snorted briefly. "His name is Jacob, Lee-lia. Well, where Jacob is…"

"Oh, wow, you actually beat us here," Bella said in surprise as the group came to join them. "We thought for sure you'd be the last ones…" She stopped as she looked at Jasper. "Jasper, did you hunt at all?"

"Yes, I did," Jasper replied patiently. "Celia, keep your hands to yourself, and _behave_," he said, distracted by the little girl's unhappy snarl and swipe in Jacob's direction. The werewolf took a quick jump backwards, still eyeing Celia warily as Nessie intercepted her attempt to attack him.

Growling angrily, Celia took another shot at Nessie despite Jasper's stern reprimand. A warning snarl managed to escape Jacob's lips before Nessie shot a reassuring glance towards him. Edward stepped in smoothly, catching the little girl's hands before they dug into Nessie's more fragile skin: a run-in with a classmate one day almost thirty years ago had introduced them to Nessie's true fragility. Their initial assumption made at Nessie's birth had turned out to be tragically false – she wasn't impenetrable, the texture of her skin simply gave the illusion of granite. In reality… Nessie was just as susceptible as any normal human girl to injury. And flowing blood in a crowd of vampires in the airport wasn't such a good idea.

Edward winced slightly as Celia managed to puncture the palms of his hand. "That's enough, Celia," he said quietly, stern authority in every word. "It's not Jacob's fault that your mind is confused."

"What?" Jasper asked.

"Her mind hasn't caught up to her body's realities," Edward explained softly, rubbing his palms as Celia settled down into Jasper's arms again. "Even though her body is telling her that she doesn't need to sleep, her mind is still saying that it's dark outside, therefore she _should_ be sleeping." He paused for a moment, studying Celia's angry frown thoughtfully. "There are good reasons why children aren't supposed to become like this."

Jasper and Alice both sighed in unison. Jasper set Celia down on the floor, kneeling in front of her so that he was eye-level with her. "Celia, listen to me. You cannot attack Jacob or Nessie because you're angry. You will hurt them very badly. Much more than you hurt Edward. They won't get better like we can."

"Celia, sweetie," Alice said softly, stopping when Celia clearly ignored her and reached instead for Jasper. The little girl's mood switched almost instantaneously from angry to repentant, golden eyes wide and lower lip trembling.

Sighing, Jasper scooped her back up into his arms and kissing her cheek lightly. "Are you going to behave for me now?" he asked gently. Celia nodded silently, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We'll see how long that lasts," Jacob muttered darkly as he pulled Nessie into his arms protectively.


	2. First Day of School

****

First Day of School

"Guess what?" Alice whispered into his ear, brushing Jasper's hair tenderly as she snuggled in close behind him on their bedroom couch. Celia was temporarily involved on the bed with her new baby doll (who had a wardrobe almost as big as hers).

"What?" he asked, eyes focused on the history book in his hands (The Blood and the Glory: New Secrets of the American Civil War). He snickered momentarily at a passage. "That is so many different degrees of inaccurate…"

"Celia isn't going to school with us." With those smug words, she kissed the nape of his neck.

"Jasper," Celia said the moment he had turned to capture Alice's lips in a tender kiss. "When are we going home?"

"We are home, Celia," Jasper replied, resting his forehead against Alice's briefly as she groaned again.

"When are we going to Houston?" Celia persisted, sliding off the bed with her doll in tow so that she could climb up onto the couch and into his lap. "We aren't staying here forever?"

"In Aspen?" Jasper asked. "No, we aren't staying in Aspen forever."

"So when are we going to Houston?"

"We're not going to Houston, Celia, sweetie," Alice replied gently.

"Jasper, when are we going to Houston?" Celia repeated.

He sighed softly. "Lee-lia, we're not going back to Houston. I've told you that already."

"Are we going to Dallas, then?" Celia asked. "Or Austin? When are we going back to Texas?"

"If I have anything to say about it, we're never going back to Texas," Jasper replied. "Celia, why don't you go find Rosalie to play with for a little while?"

"No, I can stay here," Celia said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Jasper, did you see Baby's new dress that Rosalie gave me?" Eyes wide with innocence, Celia held out her doll to him as Alice sighed in resignation and returned her attention to combing her fingers lightly through his hair.

"I saw that, Celia," Jasper replied, accepting the doll being held out.

"Jasper, why aren't we going to Texas?" Celia asked plaintively.

"Because we live here," Jasper said easily.

"Why?"

"Don't even start that, Jazz –" Alice started to warn.

"Because this is where we decided to move to," Jasper answered Celia.

"Why?"

"Because we haven't been to Colorado in a long time. You've never been to Colorado."

"Why?"

"Because Colorado was no place for a little girl in 1861."

"Why?"

"I told you…" Alice sighed as Jasper groaned.

"Celia, enough with the questions," he said. "Now go find Rosalie."

"No, I want to stay here," Celia replied again.

Jasper sighed. "Okay, then come with me. We're going to go find Esme, and you and she are going to plot out what you're going to do tomorrow while I'm at school." Getting to his feet, he took Celia by the hand and led her out of the room.

"Jasper, why are you going to school?" Celia asked.

"Because I need to."

"You never went to school in Houston," Celia pointed out unhappily.

"I should've been going to school in Houston, Lee-lia, but I couldn't," Jasper replied gently, swinging her up onto his hip when she reached for him. "You're going to behave tomorrow for Esme, right? No more tantrums?"

"How long is school?"

"Oh, just a few hours."

"How long is that?"

* * *

"God, Alice, _please_ control yourself," Edward said with a grimace as he opened the driver's door of his new Volvo.

"Not my fault," Alice chirped happily from the backseat of Rosalie's convertible. Then her face fell and she growled under her breath. From inside the house, they could hear Jasper wavering again on his resolve to leave Celia for the day. The little girl's unhappy sobs echoed throughout the property, and Jasper said uncertainly, _"Maybe I should stay…"_

"Jasper, get the hell out here!" Emmett yelled with a quick glance at Alice, who was brooding unhappily in the backseat. "She'll survive six hours away from you! We need to go!"

"_Go, hon, we'll be fine,"_ Esme's gentle voice repeated from inside the house. _"Celia, come here. Let go of your brother."_

Celia let out an angry scream and a series of crashes resonated as Jasper slowly exited the house, his face clearly tormented.

"For God's sake, Jasper!" Emmett roared again. "Let's _go_!"

Biting his lower lip, Jasper jumped into the backseat of the convertible and Emmett peeled out of the driveway at top speed. Her face brightening again, Alice nestled herself snugly against Jasper's side, and Emmett and Rosalie pretended not to notice or hear as she began to whisper shockingly salacious promises into his ear. One of Rosalie's eyebrows raised slightly at a softly-breathed plan, and Emmett had to bite back the appreciative snicker.

'God, you can't tell she hasn't gotten laid in over two years,' Emmett thought to himself with a slight smirk in Rosalie's direction.

* * *

It drove her crazy, to sit in a history class – which, if at all possible, was drier than any prior history class she had taken in her life – and watch Jasper twirl a pencil around absently in his long fingers, the other hand buried in the pocket of his jacket, wrapped around his cell phone. Would it cause too much scandal if she just…

"Yes," Edward muttered under his breath, a brief flicker of disgust crossing his face. "Keep your hands to yourself." From beside him, Bella muffled her laughter in her hands, casting a sympathetic glance in Alice's direction. "God, Alice, you're turning into Rosalie."

_Be forcibly abstinent for two and a half years, and then come talk to me,_ Alice snarled viciously in her mind, distracted momentarily by a vision of Jasper yanking her into the nearest janitor's closet. She cast a coy smile in Jasper's direction, encouraged by the small, crooked grin he sent in return. Judging by Edward's tormented groan of resignation, Alice was certain that Jasper was busy undressing her in his mind, contemplating each and every one of his future actions very carefully.

Now the teacher was droning on about Confederate forces at the first battle of Galveston, and Jasper set the tip of his pencil to his notebook, beginning to light trace the outline of what could've been a bronze etching of a harbour with battleships.

Faintly, Alice heard their teacher make mention of a major who had successfully negotiated a three-day delay to evacuate civilians from the town. The slight upward twitch of her husband's lips gave way to a self-satisfied smile, and she laughed under her breath.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself," Edward muttered, though in jest. "They don't remember your name."

"That's a very good thing, isn't it?" Jasper replied softly, just as the bell rang.

"Yeah, I guess," Edward relented, getting to his feet. "Now, for God's sake, the two of you find an empty room and –"

"Come on," Bella interrupted him, grabbing his arm and pulling him off. "Let's go meet the others."

Alice smiled at her husband brightly as he gathered their things quickly. "Where to?"

He returned her smile mischievously. "I saw a door down at the far end of the hall which looks pretty safe," he replied. "I hope you weren't planning anything for lunch hour."

"Well, I think my plans will coincide with yours," she purred in response.

* * *

Alice moaned softly, his fingers buried into her hair as he deepened the needy kiss. She scrambled to undo his belt, arching her back to press against him. "Oh, _God_, Jasper..."

"I love you," he murmured against her lips, unbuttoning her shirt quickly. "I miss you. I need you –"

"Stop," she said suddenly, pulling away and rebuttoning her shirt and doing up his belt again in a flash. "Why didn't you turn your phone off?" she demanded, pausing a moment before pushing open the door to the closet and slipping out.

"What?" Jasper asked, completely perplexed, until his cell phone went off, echoing down the silent corridor. Wincing, he pulled it out of his pocket just as the vice-principal came out of the office down the hall, and narrowing his eyes in their direction. "Hello?" he asked in resignation, wrapping an arm around Alice's waist and allowing her to nestle in beside him.

"_Jasper, when are you coming _back_?"_ Celia asked plaintively. _"It's too _long_."_

"Just another couple of hours, sweetie," he replied gently.

"Mr Hale?" the vice-principal asked in disapproval, holding out his hand for the phone. "Miss Cullen, you can join the other students in the cafeteria," he hinted. Alice sighed and extricated herself from his side, heading down and into the cafeteria doors. "Mr Hale, the phone."

"_Jasper, come back _now_," _Celia pleaded. _"It's too _long_." _She started to cry, and Jasper could hear Esme trying desperately to soothe her on the other end of the line.

"Celia, honey, it'll be –" Jasper was cut off by the vice-principal pulling his phone forcibly from his hands and shutting it, hearing Celia's scream faintly before the connection was cut. Groaning, he glared at the older man. "Thanks. Please excuse my absence from the afternoon classes. _Now_ I have to go home. Can I have my phone back?"

"You can have it back at the end of the school day, Mr Hale. Please go to the cafeteria," the vice-principal said impassively.

Biting back the snarl of frustration, Jasper turned to his locker, yanked it open and pulled out his jacket. Edward already had his car keys held out by the time that Jasper had reached their family's table.

"Just make sure you come back to pick up the rest of us," his brother said quietly. Alice was studying her tray of untouched food unhappily, and accepted the soft kiss Jasper delivered to her cheek without a word.

"I'm sorry, Lissy," he murmured.

* * *

Celia was still screaming uncontrollably when he pulled into the driveway. Pocketing the keys, Jasper got out of the car and entered the house. "Celia Eleanor Whitlock Hale!" he called warningly. "That had better not be screams I hear coming from your mouth!"

The screaming stopped abruptly and a small blonde blur latched itself onto his leg. Esme appeared in the doorway shortly thereafter, her expression and mood clearly frayed around the edges. Jasper half-smiled, half-grimaced apologetically as he lifted the little girl up into his arms. "Vice-principal confiscated my phone," he explained shortly. Jasper turned his attention back to Celia, who was winding her fingers through a stray lock of his hair possessively. "I thought you and I had an agreement, Lee-lia," he murmured.

"I was a good girl," she replied indignantly.

"Good girls don't scream like madwomen," Jasper clarified sternly.

"I was a good girl this morning," Celia offered sadly, lower lip jutting out in a pout. "Wasn't I, Esme?" she asked, twisting around to look at her adoptive mother. "I was a good girl..."

"You were, Celia," Esme agreed gently. "Now, are you going to come down and let Jasper go back to class for the afternoon?"

"Can't you stay here now?" Celia asked plaintively, looking back at Jasper.

"Celia, Jasper has to go back to school," Esme corrected.

"I'll stay home today, Celia, but I can't stay all the time," Jasper relented. "Come show me what you did this morning. I hope you weren't having a tantrum all morning?"

Celia shook her head, beaming widely. "No. I was a good girl."

* * *

"Jasper, don't _leave_," Celia complained as he got to his feet.

"I have to go pick up Alice and Emmett and Rosalie at school," Jasper explained, disentangling his little sister from his leg. "We'll be back before you know it."

"The others can pick them up," Celia said stubbornly.

"Rosalie doesn't have enough room in her car for all of us, Celia." He sighed, getting the impression that another longwinded argument was preparing to unravel. "I need to go. I took Edward's car to come home this afternoon."

"Can I come with you, then?" she persisted, following him out into the garage. "We can take _your_ car. I can go in your car."

"You need to stay home with Esme and keep her company," Jasper said, crouching down to look her in the eyes. "Esme gets very lonely when she's at home by herself. You don't want to make her sad, do you?"

_Jasper Hale, you are shameless,_ he thought ruefully as Celia chewed at her lower lip, casting an uncertain glance behind at the door to the house. Finally, she shook her head.

"I still want to come with you. We won't be gone long."

Jasper sighed in resignation. "All right. But you have to stay in the car when we get to the school. Esme, I'm taking Celia to go pick up the others!" he called, grabbing his keys from the hanging box by the doorway.

Celia laughed excitedly and climbed impatiently onto the backseat once he'd opened the door, settling herself into the booster seat and waiting for him to secure the seatbelt around her hips.

Jasper smiled slightly as he closed the door to the backseat, sliding into the driver's seat and letting the engine roar into life. Well, _purr_ into life – Cullen cars did _not_, under any circumstance, _roar_ unless being pushed to the limits. And Cullen cars did _not_ get pushed to the limits when they carried little girls in the backseat. Not unless the driver had a death wish. A slow-and-painful-death wish. "All right, Lee-lia. Let's go."

* * *

Celia was still giggling with delight when Jasper pulled into the parking lot, joining the rest of the Cullens at the far end, where Rosalie's convertible was still parked. Alice was perched lightly on the trunk along with Nessie, who was pleading with Rosalie to let her drive the convertible home.

"Hey, we ready to go?" Jasper asked, rolling down the window. "Did somebody collect my phone?"

"They won't release it to any of us," Alice said with a sigh.

"The car is going to stink for months if he sets foot in it!" Rosalie protested, gesturing at Jacob.

"So Jake can go home in Jasper's car," Nessie begged.

"Yeah, and get my head clawed off by the Littlest Leech?" Jacob asked indignantly. "I don't think so!"

"How do you even know Celia's in there?" Rosalie asked disdainfully.

"I can _smell_ her," Jake growled. "She burns worse than the rest of you!"

Emmett rolled his eyes, an arm slung casually over Rosalie's shoulders. "Come on, babe, let her drive it for once," he cajoled, sending a grin in Jasper's direction as he got out of the car. Celia shrieked in dismay and wriggled out of her seatbelt, trying futilely to open the child-locked back door. Finally, Jasper opened the door and she flew out.

"I'll wash it myself," Nessie offered. "Three times. By hand."

Rosalie grumbled under her breath before she finally handed the keys to Nessie. "Fine. But I am _not_ going home with the dog." With that said, she scooped Celia up and kissed her. "Hello, Celia."

"Where's Jasper going?" Celia questioned anxiously, watching as he took off towards the school building.

"Jasper's just getting his phone back," Alice assured her. "Just a couple of minutes."

* * *

"Mr Hale, you weren't in any of your afternoon classes," the vice-principal said, still withholding Jasper's cell.

"You hung up on my baby sister and sent her into a panic attack," Jasper said shortly. "I had to go home and calm her down before she rendered herself unconscious."

There was scepticism in the vice-principal's attitude, slowly twirling the cell phone around his finger in a plastic bag. He eyed Jasper lazily. "Nobody called to excuse your absences."

"I wasn't aware that we needed to have done so. Do you want to call my foster mother at home?"

They were interrupted by the office door opening, and Rosalie's apologetic voice. "Sorry, Jasper, she's getting antsy out there..."

"What's taking so long?" Celia asked, reaching up to her brother. "We need to go back now. You're going to make Esme worry." As he swung her up onto his hip indulgently, she looked at the vice-principal questioningly and then extended her hand for the phone.

"Edward, Bella, Jacob and Nessie went back already," Rosalie explained quietly. "Emmett and Alice are waiting at your car. What's taking so long? You sign a paper, you promise not to talk on your cell during school hours again, you're gone."

"Well, I apparently don't get my phone back until my afternoon absences are excused," Jasper said dryly.

"It's his fault you were absent in the first place," Rosalie said with a frown. "If he hadn't hung up on Celia, you wouldn't have needed to go."

"I want to _go_," Celia repeated, tugging at Jasper's hair. "Why are we still here?"

Meanwhile, the vice-principal was still standing in front of them, watching and listening to the conversation with an unimpressed expression. "Provided that your guardians call in the morning to excuse today's absence, you can have your cell phone back tomorrow afternoon," he said finally. "Now go."

* * *

"Esme's having kittens," Emmett reported from the passenger seat as Rosalie buckled Celia back into her booster seat and slid into the backseat. "She was sure something nefarious was afoot. What were you discussing, the state of the nation?"

"Are we going _back_ now?" Celia demanded.

"Yes, we're going home now," Alice reassured her from the other side of the booster seat. "Jazz? What was going on?"

"Vice was being an ass," Jasper muttered, throwing the car into drive and pulling out of the lot.

Celia's eyes widened and both young women snapped, "_Jasper_!" as Emmett bit back the snicker.


	3. Family

A/N: All right, all right, I know. It's been forever and a day, and the chapter's not even all that long. I swear, I have been working on my stories - life has finally slowed down just enough to finish one chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Family**

Alice's teeth sliced easily through the cotton of Jasper's shirt as she tried to stifle the scream again. "I swear to God, Jasper, something horrendous is going to happen to that little angel…" she growled in frustration, gritting her teeth to try and avoid biting his skin itself.

"Give her a break, Lissy," he sighed, detaching his wife and frowning at the messy hole in the shoulder of his polo. "She's just a baby." Rapidly changing his shirt, he unlocked the door and accepted Celia into his arms readily. "Lee-lia, what is it?"

"Jasper, I'm hungry," Celia complained mildly.

"We can go hunting in a little bit, Celia, if you want," Jasper replied.

"No, _now_," she insisted, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger with a slight pout on her face. "I want to go _now_."

"Okay, okay, we'll go now," Jasper soothed in reply, and Alice groaned softly from the bed. "Alice, are you coming?"

"No, no, just us," Celia protested, tugging at his hair to bring his attention back to her. "Just us, Jasper."

"Celia, please don't pull my hair," Jasper said warningly, detaching her fingers. "Alice?"

"No!" Celia shrieked.

"Celia Eleanor, you shut your mouth if you can't behave yourself," Jasper scolded.

"You go," Alice muttered darkly in reply. "_I'm_ going to stay home and have a tantrum."

* * *

Jasper sighed tiredly as Celia beamed brilliantly at him and dashed a little ways ahead into the forest. "Celia, honey, come back here. Stay with me."

"See, Jasper?" Celia asked brightly, skipping back to him. "This is better. This is what it's supposed to be. And we can go back home and we can–"

He couldn't deny that she was infinitely happier and unfailingly better-behaved right now. The quiet atmosphere around them was familiar, soothing, and there was still a tiny part of him that had always wanted to go back to the way it had been before the Cullens had burst into his life. But Alice had wanted to find them, so he had agreed.

How did he balance what Alice wanted with what Celia wanted? How could he possibly manage to adequately divide his time and attentions to two girls who were so used to getting all of his attention, all of the time? How would he figure out how to adjust to this new life?

The hatred broiled away inside his chest. But he couldn't hate Alice and he certainly couldn't hate Celia, because neither of them were responsible for this total inadequacy. No, that was entirely his doing. _He_ was the one who was completely incapable of doing what everybody else in his family seemed able to do: love more than one person at a time. So the dark seed settled itself in his silent heart, taking root and spreading little granules of self-hatred throughout his body.

"Jasper?" Celia queried, patting his cheek. "Jasper, can we find dinner now?"

He smiled at her softly. "Sure, Celia. What should we look for?"

She paused, nose wrinkling slightly as she sniffed the air. "I smell… kitties," she said with a delighted smile.

Jasper took a whiff after her, noting the scent of mountain lions off to the north, heading up into the mountains. "That sounds good, Lee-lia. Let's go find them."

She laughed and grabbed his outstretched hand willingly. "Jasper," she asked as they took off towards their prey, "why do we have to stay here with all these people?"

"Because this is our family now, Celia," he replied. "Families stick together."

"But what happened to _our_ family, Jasper?" she persisted. "Why did Mother leave?"

He paused, thinking over the possible answers. None of them were particularly appetizing when delivered to 3-year-old girls.

"Never mind about Mother," he said finally, pulling her into his arms tightly. "What's important is that we're together again, and we have a new family that won't go away."

"But _we_ were a family," Celia said softly, weaving her fingers into his hair again. "Before. In Houston. _We_ were a family, weren't we?"

"Of course we were, Celia," he said patiently. "We were a different kind of family then. What's the matter?"

"I want our old family back," she said with a pout, wriggling down when they caught up to the pair of mountain lions. "I want that one," she continued, pointing to the smaller female by the lake.

He laughed. "Okay. You go get that kitty."

Celia sank down into a crouch, little tongue sticking partway out of her mouth as she eyed her destination and pounced like a lightning bolt. The female yowled in surprise and whirled around, trying to throw her off. Jasper quickly downed the accompanying male and drained him, then kept a careful eye on Celia's fight to subdue the large predator. Finally, the female collapsed, too much blood drained to continue fighting.

Celia finished off her capture, then climbed back into Jasper's lap, her clothes covered in blood. "I can do better," she said sadly, lip sticking out as she studied the dark red stains permeating her pretty blue dress. "I got all dirty."

"I suppose we should go back home, then, and find you a new dress," Jasper replied with a smile. "Or do you need some more?"

She shook her head. "I need to check on Baby."

* * *

Celia's earlier words echoed accusingly in his mind as he found a clean outfit for her in the wardrobe and got her changed. The other girls had all gone out hunting before they'd returned, so it was up to Jasper to make the wardrobe transition.

"_I want our old family back…"_

Throwing on his own change of outfit, he ventured back out into the living room, where Jacob sat scowling in the furthest corner. Emmett and Edward were deeply embroiled in a video game of some kind, and Carlisle was sitting on the couch with Celia, watching her hum softly to her doll.

What was _wrong_ with _this_ family?, he wondered as Celia glanced back at him and grinned. Why was she so dead-set on going back to the isolation and poverty? What was wrong with a full house and wealth? Sighing, Jasper sent a glance towards Jacob, who was glowering disgustedly in Celia's direction, and then sat down on the other side of Celia, catching her when she threw her arms around him and clambered back into his lap.

"I'm going to wait for the girls," Jacob muttered as he stalked out, giving Celia a wide berth. She scowled back at him and clamped her hands over her nose and mouth.

Celia smirked triumphantly when Jacob was gone and snuggled down comfortably into Jasper's hold. She watched Emmett and Edward's competition with a vague curiosity, until Emmett turned around to look at Jasper, holding out a controller to him.

"You want a go?" Emmett asked with a smirk.

"Sure," Jasper conceded, taking the controller. "Who's going down?"

"You are," Emmett replied, grabbing Edward's controller.

Celia reached for the controller Jasper held in his hand interestedly. Grinning, Emmett started the game without warning just as Celia had begun pressing buttons and moving the joysticks.

"Ah! Celia, stop that," Jasper yelped, trying to regain the lead and control of the buttons.

"What does it _do_?" Celia asked insistently, fending off Jasper with a remarkable ease. "Jasper, what does it _do_?"

Carlisle and Edward were both biting back chuckles as Emmett finished first, snickering when Jasper and Celia continued to struggle over the controller.

"Oh, who's got skills?" Emmett crowed, just as the girls walked through the door.

"Not you," Rosalie replied with a smile. "You had to get him distracted before you beat him. It doesn't count when Celia's sabotaging the competition."

Emmett rolled his eyes at her indulgently and accepted her into his lap when she sank down. "Whatever."

Finally, Celia gave up with a huff of discontentment, dropping the controller to the ground. "I don't like this game anymore," she announced.

* * *

"Mmm, don't look now," Jasper breathed into Alice's ear, "but she hasn't looked in my direction for three hours." Playfully, he nipped her earlobe with his teeth.

Immediately, Alice's eyes lit up and she tugged at his sleeve insistently as she edged towards the back door. "Come now," she whispered. "Before she realizes we're gone."

Jasper hesitated at the threshold, glancing back once more before he allowed Alice to pull him out. "Okay."

Alice gave him a bright, sunny smile as they ran through the woods, holding his hand. Finally, he stopped and pulled her to him, planting a hard kiss on her lips. Immediately, Alice reached up and wove her hands through his hair, clinging to him with all her strength. "I miss you," she whispered against his lips, laughing lightly as he began unbuttoning his shirt.

"_Mine…_" he growled into her ear.

"Always," she breathed back, just as the sound of his cell phone broke into their bubble. She groaned softly, banging her head against his shoulder once more as he sighed and withdrew the device. "Really, Jasper?" she demanded irritably. "Does that thing _ever_ leave your side?"

"She's only 3, Alice," Jasper murmured in exasperation. Flipping open his cell, he said simply, "Hello."

"_Nice try, man,"_ Edward's voice came dryly over the line. In the background, he could hear Celia throwing a fit, with Bella, Esme and Rosalie's frantic soothing as a steady undertone. _"Get back here and calm her down before she destroys any more of Esme's living room furniture."_

Jasper sighed. "All right, put her on."

There was a shuffle as Edward moved into the living room, and the noise became clearer. _"Celia," _Edward interrupted softly. _"Here."_

"Celia," Jasper said warningly, hearing Celia's sniffles come closer. "Was that a tantrum I was hearing?"

"_Where are you?"_ Celia demanded through her tears.

"Not far. I'll be home soon – why aren't you being a good girl like you promised me?"

From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of Alice's lower lip jutting out as she began picking at invisible pieces of lint on his shirt

"_Jasper, I want you to come back _now_," _Celia said plaintively. _"I don't like it when you leave."_

"Darlin', I can't always stay with you. Sometimes I need to go away for a little while."

"_You don't need to take Alice with you."_

"Lee-lia," Jasper started to cajole as Alice separated herself angrily from him, whirling around and stalking off into the woods. "That's not fair. Sometimes you come with me, and sometimes Alice comes with me. And sometimes neither of you will come with me. It's not always going to be you –"

Celia interrupted with an angry shriek. _"WHY?"_

"Celia Eleanor Whitlock Hale!"

There was a screech and crash on the other end before the line went dead, and Jasper sighed in resignation.

* * *

"You know, you're not doing yourself any big favours by catering to her every whim," Edward commented casually as Jasper scooped up his sobbing little sister and settled her into his arms. "You're just teaching her that if she throws a big enough fit, she'll get what she wants." He paused for a moment as Jasper shrugged helplessly and rocked Celia. "We don't need another Rosalie in the house."

A purse came whipping through the air, smacking Edward on the back of the head with expert precision.

Celia calmed, winding her arms around Jasper's neck and laying her head down against his shoulder. From across the room, Jasper could see Alice glowering at him behind her laptop.


	4. Spoiled Little Southern Belles

**Chapter 3: Spoiled Little Southern Belles**

"Celia, we've been through this before," Jasper said patiently, unwinding Celia from his leg as he slipped his schoolbag over his shoulder. "Go play with Baby for a while. I'll be home again before you know it."

"_Noooooo_," Celia whined, latching onto the strap of Jasper's bag. "Jasper, _please_."

"Celia Eleanor…" he warned, prying her fingers off.

"Let me come with you…" she cried, trying again to wrap herself around him. "I _promise_ I'll be good."

"Jasper! We're going to be late!" Rosalie called impatiently from the garage. Jasper sighed in frustration and extricated himself from Celia's death grip once more, ignoring Emmett's raised-eyebrow, smug smirk.

"Oh, shut up, Emmett," Jasper muttered as he knelt down to look Celia in the eye. "Celia Eleanor Whitlock-Hale, you stop this tantrum and you listen to me. I can't stay at home with you today. If I stay at home, the school is going to send police to our house and put me in jail. Do you want that to happen?"

He winced at the immediate look of terror on Celia's face, and Esme's frown of disapproval from the living room. Desperate times called for desperate measures. He'd never had to scare Celia like that before – but then again, he'd never had to leave her before the war had begun. "You need to stop whining. I will be back at the end of the day. It'll be hardly any time at all, and then that's it. I'll be home for two whole days after today."

"Oh, for God's sake, Jasper!" Rosalie's irritated voice called again. "Be it on your own heads, you two! The rest of us are going!"

"Can I get a hug before I leave for school?" Jasper prompted gently, hoping to dispel the woebegone expression on her face. She reached out and hugged him tightly, whispering in his ear,

"_Can we go home after that? If I'm a very good girl?"_

"We'll talk about it," Jasper finally relented, as Celia released him and he got to his feet. Emmett held open the garage door for him, and Esme got up to follow the little girl trailing wistfully behind Jasper.

Emmett muttered under his breath, "This is what you get for cultivating spoiled little Southern belles, my brother."

"Oh, because you're one to talk about the benefits of _not_ spoiling the woman in your life," Jasper shot back, a ghost of a smile playing at the edges of his lips as Esme scooped Celia into her arms and carried her back inside. He winced again as the sounds of Celia's heartbroken sobs echoed through the house. "Maybe I should…"

"You just finished threatening that poor girl with being responsible for your internment if you stay home one more time," Emmett said bluntly. "You are going to school, Jasper, and you are not leaving before 3:00. And you aren't skipping classes, either. Suck it up. She'll live – Edward's right, you know. You're just teaching her that she'll get what she wants if she screams loudly enough and long enough. And Alice is going to regress to three-year-old logic if you put her off for much longer."

"I'm not putting her off," Jasper protested. "It's just hard to balance the two. There's only so many hours in a day and they both want all of them."

"Give me your phone," Emmett said after a moment as they slid into Jasper's car and pulled out of the garage. "Make sure you take Alice somewhere at lunch. I'll distract the munchkin if she calls."

"Uh-huh, how?" Jasper asked doubtfully.

"I have experience. I had nieces and nephews," his brother replied, a faint hint of pain in his voice. "I know how to distract three-year-olds from the object of their obsessions."

There was silence for a moment before Jasper finally handed over his cell, murmuring, "You don't talk about your life before."

"Neither did you," Emmett replied quietly as he slipped Jasper's phone into his jacket pocket. "There are some things you'd just prefer not to remember. I just avoid mine for different reasons." He paused and turned another corner. "My two lives will never intersect and I like it that way. You have a clingy three-year-old. I had a wife." The tone in Emmett's voice said that this was something he'd been aching for years, maybe even decades, to say to somebody he could trust to keep the secret.

Jasper looked over at his brother. "Rosalie had a fiancé," he pointed out.

"Not quite an apples-to-apples comparison," Emmett sighed. "Her name was Elizabeth. It's like night and day with her and Rosalie. I like it, in some ways. I had to be a different person for Rose." He stopped with the car, waiting at a red light with his fingers drumming the steering wheel. "I loved her with everything I had – I still do. But I also love Rosalie with everything I have. How do I even begin to explain that one to her? You know what her self-esteem's like."

Jasper nodded in understanding, watching Emmett's face as the torment flitted across. "When I was bleeding to death, and I was sure I was hallucinating, I was thinking that it was really, really cruel of God to send such an irresistible angel to a married man. I spent years hating myself for wanting Rose. Even now, if I stop and think about it, knowing that Ellie is long since dead… I still hate myself." Emmett stopped again, his gaze focused on the road ahead as he pulled into the student parking lot. "Carlisle and Esme and Rosalie think I've just sort of forgotten my human life. I make sure Edward's never gotten enough information to piece it together. Alice and Bella really just don't care, I don't think." He turned to look at Jasper as the car was parked. "But if I was in your shoes right now, and Ellie got dropped back into my life, expecting everything to be as it was, I think I'd set myself on fire."

"I don't blame you," Jasper agreed.

"All I'm saying, Jasper, is maybe Celia needs to see that the old life is over. It's gone, it's not going to come back. Something concrete. Something she can actually see and feel and touch."

* * *

As his thoughts began to form in his mind throughout the morning, Jasper struggled to keep his mind free of decisions and full of distractions. The last thing he wanted was for Alice to catch sight of his plans.

He pulled Emmett and Rosalie aside in study hall, ignoring Rosalie's huff of discontent. "Can I have my phone back?" he murmured to Emmett.

"No," Emmett replied immediately. "We had a deal. You were going to be totally detached from the munchkin for a day." He eyed him warily. "Why do you want it back?"

Jasper sighed. "I've been thinking about what you said."

"What?" Rosalie asked, turning to Emmett. "What have you been telling him?" Her voice was sharp, filled with suspicion.

"Are you taking them both?" Emmett asked after a moment of silence, ignoring Rosalie's question. "We can smooth it over with Carlisle and Esme."

"Haven't decided yet," Jasper said evasively, with a brief nod towards the hallway, where Alice was waiting for him at his locker. "Give it until lunch break before you talk to the others. I figure that'll be enough time, and I'll give Esme an explanation when we get there."

Rosalie narrowed her eyes in Jasper's direction. "You know she doesn't like it when you try and surprise her with things that don't have a monetary value." Crossing her arms, she sat back in her chair and gave him a distinctly disapproving look. "I am _not_ liking the sounds of this plan."

"Rose, I'll explain later. Just trust him on this," Emmett murmured, then passed the cell back over to Jasper. "How long, you figure?"

Jasper hesitated, glancing back at Alice's impatient, frowning figure, before he finally answered, "As long as necessary." With that reply, he got to his feet and left the study hall, joining Alice at his locker.

Her eyes were bright and sparkling, though there was a hint of suspicion in that gaze. Biting back the laugh, Jasper kept his focus on his locker and stacked his books carefully.

"Where are you taking me?" Alice asked excitedly, catching his arm and reaching up on tiptoes to whisper into his ear. "I saw it. You're taking me somewhere. Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see," he murmured into her ear in return.

"Oh, I will," Alice replied with a kiss to his jaw. "Can we go now?"

Jasper managed to contain his snickers again, closing his locker door and slipping his arm around her waist. "All right, let's go." Alice squealed happily.

* * *

Alice was frowning as he turned the corner onto the road that led to their house. "Jasper, what are we doing?" she asked warily. "Can you just tell me, please?"

He stopped the car and parked on the side of the road, though his hands remained tight around the steering wheel. It was times like these that he wished it was still the 1800s, and he could have a horse to focus on keeping still. "Alice…"

"I thought you were taking me somewhere alone," Alice said softly, her hand sliding onto his arm. "Why are you coming back home?" She stopped, her eyes flicking from side to side as though reading a book. "Jasper?" she asked again after a moment. "What are we doing? Where are you taking us?"

He struggled to get a grip on his emotions, though he could almost feel his heart pounding at the thought.

"Jasper, where is this?" she repeated.

"Texas," he finally murmured. "I need her to understand. She doesn't… she doesn't understand that that life is over. That we can't go back to it, and I can't… I don't know how else to do it, Alice, but to _show _her." He stopped, trying to calm himself enough to continue driving. "And I _need_ you. I can't do it alone."

There was silence in the car for a moment, until Alice leaned over and placed a light kiss on his lips. "You can do this, Jazz," she whispered to him. "Come on, let's go pick Celia up."

He took another deep breath, more for calming sake, and put the car into drive again.

* * *

As they entered the house, he could hear the faint rustling of papers in the front room. Besides that, there was no sound to even indicate anybody was home. There was silence for a moment when Alice closed the garage door quietly behind them, and then Esme called, "What are you two doing home so early?"

Jasper leaned back against the doorframe of the front room and sighed. "We're going away for a few days," he murmured. He paused for a moment as he caught sight of Celia sitting motionless in front of the window, her baby doll clutched in an arm. "Celia."

The little girl turned around hopefully, and then burst into a sunny smile. She scrambled to her feet and ran into his waiting arms, chattering happily to him.

"I'm going to go get a few things packed, all right?" Alice said softly to him, before she disappeared upstairs.

"Jasper, what's going on?" Esme asked in concern, setting down her pencils.

"Nothing's wrong," Jasper assured her, settling Celia down comfortably on one hip. "Alice and I are just going to take Celia down to Houston for a couple of days." There was a shriek of delight from Celia at his ear and he winced momentarily. "I would think we'll be back within the week, Esme. It's just something that has to be done."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" she asked again, getting up from her seat.

Jasper was quiet for a moment before he answered, "Yeah. We'll be fine. Alice or I will call when we're on our way back, all right?" He resettled Celia to the other hip when she tugged insistently at his hair. "Celia, please stop that," he requested quietly.

Alice appeared at his side again with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. "Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah."


End file.
